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Former Brit prime minister to headline WOCCU Conference

MADISON, Wis. (3/17/11)--Former Prime Minister of Great Britain Gordon Brown, MP, will open the World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) 2011 World Credit Union Conference. The annual event and only global credit union conference will be held July 24-27 in Glasgow, Scotland. B

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will keynote the 2011 World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in July. (Photo provided by the World Council of Credit Unions)

rown's keynote address at the conference's opening general session on July 25 will discuss lessons from his new book, Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization, and the role that credit unions can play in strengthening the financial system and communities. Brown has been a member of the British parliament (MP) since 1983 when he was 32 years old. He succeeded Tony Blair as Britain's prime minister and leader of the country's Labor Party, serving in the position from 2007 to 2010. Brown previously served as the Labor Government's Chancellor of the Exchequer, running the country's Treasury department from 1997 to 2007. As head of the Treasury, he established the winter fuel allowance for poor pensioners, lifted a half million children out of poverty, introduced a minimum wage, created the trust fund and tax credit for children, and more. He also negotiated the government's debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries and helped stay true to his commitment to spend 0.7% on aid to the poor. He may be most recognized for devising a plan to help European and U.S. governments stabilize the global financial sector in 2008. "The challenge for our generation is to create global institutions that reflect our ideas of fairness and responsibility, not the ideas that were the basis of the last stage of financial development," Brown has said. "Combine the power of our moral sense with the power of communications and our ability to organize internationally. That, in my view, gives us the best opportunity as a community to fundamentally change the world." For more information about the conference, use the link.